The brutal beating by vigilantes of a Roma teenager who is now fighting for his life has shocked France, with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday decrying an “unspeakable and unjustifiable” act.
Accused of robbery, the 16-year-old called Darius was dragged into a basement in a town north of Paris on Friday, savagely beaten by a dozen residents of a housing estate and left unconscious in a supermarket trolley where he was later found.
News of the attack in Pierrefitte-sur-Seine emerged only on Monday, sparking widespread condemnation.
Hollande asked “that everything be done to find those responsible for this attack.” French Prime Minister Manuel Valls also hit out at the perpetrators.
The teenager, who lived with his family and other Roma in a squalid camp that had sprung up around an abandoned house, was accused of breaking into an apartment in the estate.
A police officer said a group of assailants took the boy away by force, then locked him in a basement and beat him.
“The loot was just a few pieces of jewelry as the perpetrator fled once he was seen by a very young witness. [The witness] gave a description that corresponded with a young man, who was quickly hunted, kidnapped, held, beaten and left to die,” said Sylvie Moisson, a prosecutor in charge of the case.
The attack was founded on rumors, said Moisson, who called it “an act of barbarism.”
Another source close to the case said that about “a dozen people” took part in the attack.
It was the boy’s mother who alerted police that her son had been kidnapped.
A judicial source, also requesting anonymity, said the boy’s “life is in danger. He is in a coma.”
“Doctors cannot yet give an opinion on the development of his health situation,” Moisson said.
Pierrefitte-sur-Seine Mayor Michel Fourcade said the boy had been questioned by police several times this month in connection with a string of robberies in the housing project.
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